1/09/2009 @ 8:40PM

Best Jobs For New College Graduates Now

This is a nerve-wracking year to be graduating from college. How do you land a job in such a weak economy?

If you’ve trained to work as, say, a network systems and data communications analyst, the odds look good, says Laurence Shatkin. He and Michael Farr are the authors of the just-updated book 200 Best Jobs for College Graduates, and that’s the job that tops their list. It calculates the most lucrative and readily available jobs for recent college graduates from now through 2016.

Systems analysts–in case you haven’t studied enough computer engineering to know–design, test and evaluate systems such as intranets and local area networks. Their average starting salary is $40,100. There will be 35,086 openings for them annually, Shatkin and Farr predict.

The authors went through the 2008-2009 edition of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report titled “Occupational Projections and Training Data” to determine the number of projected openings in various jobs. They then got earnings information for those from the bureau’s Occupational Employment Statistics program. The bureau classifies 500 jobs, and the authors ranked them according to entry-level pay. Finally, they singled out occupations that would have both a number of openings and relatively high pay.

Most of the jobs on the list require training. It would be tough for most art majors to land a job as an IT specialist. Therefore, the list can be useful to college students trying to figure out what to major in. It can also help recent graduates decide what to study in graduate school.

“The careers with a lot of opportunity require a lot of skills,” Shatkin says.

Perhaps no job in the top 10 illustrates that fact better than an actuary, which comes in at No. 8. Actuaries are the professionals who identify, quantify and manage the financial impact of risk. They typically work for financial or insurance companies. Usually they’re math or statistics majors, but that’s not a requirement. The main prerequisite is an aptitude for math.

Getting the job isn’t the hardest part of becoming an actuary. In order to continue working, you have to take seven exams over the following three to six years. Once you’ve gotten through that, you reach the level of associate actuary. Then comes the highest level, fellow, which takes another two to three years and several more tests. Most employers offer time off for study. The starting salary for an actuary right out of college is about $50,000.

Actuaries are in great demand for several reasons, says James Miles, a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and member of the American Academy of Actuaries. First, assessing risk has become more important than ever in this financially treacherous time. Many companies have created a new actuarial executive position, that of chief risk officer. With margins thinner, actuarial accuracy is more necessary than ever to companies and to the global economy.

No. 2 on the list is the sales agent who sells retirement packages and annuities to individuals and employers. Shatkin says this job is in demand because the aging population is struggling to find long-term financial security. Its average starting salary is $30,890, and the number of openings annually is 47,750.

Also in the top 10: paralegal, school counselor, computer support specialist and cost estimator. Never heard of a cost estimator? He or she usually works in construction or engineering and assists project managers in determining how much supplies and resources will cost. The average starting salary is $32,470, and the number of openings annually is 38,379.